Biography:

Following a lengthy struggle with cancer, Healey passes away on the eve of
the release of a new blues rock album (His First Blues Album in 8 Years)

Jeff Healey, arguably one of the most distinctive guitar players of our time,
died today (Sunday March 2, 2008) in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Toronto. He was 41,
and leaves his wife, Cristie, daughter Rachel (13) and son Derek (three), as
well as his father and step-mother, Bud and Rose Healey, and sisters Laura and
Linda.

Funeral and memorial arrangements are pending.

Robbed of his sight as a baby due to a rare form of cancer, retino blastoma,
and he started to play guitar when he was three, holding the instrument
unconventionally across his lap. He formed his first band at 17, but soon formed
a trio which was named the Jeff Healey Band.

After his appearance in the movie Road House, he was signed to Arista
records, and in 1988 released the Grammy-nominated album See the Light, which
included a major hit single, Angel Eyes. He earned a Juno Award in 1990 as
Entertainer of the Year.

Two more albums emerged on Arista, with lessening success as the ’90s passed.
Various “best-of” and live packages were released, and he recorded two more rock
albums, before turning to his real love, classic American jazz from the ’20s,
’30s and ’40s.

By then, however, Healey was an internationally-known star who had played
with dozens of musicians, including B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and
recorded with George Harrison. Mark Knopfler and the late blues legend, Jimmy
Rogers.

A family man with a three-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter he
preferred to stay close to home. “I’ve traveled widely before - been there and
done that,” he told friends, determined to avoid the lengthy, exhausting tours
that marked his life in his twenties and early thirties.

A long-running CBC Radio series saw him in the role of disc jockey - My Kinda
Jazz was a staple for a while, but in recent years he had hosted a programme
with a similar name on Jazz-FM in Toronto. A highlight of his broadcasts was
always the use of rare — and rarely heard — music from his 30,000-plus
collection of 78-rpm records.

As his rock career wound down as the millennium came, he recorded a series of
three album of early jazz, playing trumpet as well as acoustic guitar in a band
he called Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards. The most recent was It’s Tight Like That,
recorded live at Hugh’s Room in Toronto in 2005, with British jazz legend Chris
Barber as guest star.

At the time of his death he was about to see the release of his first
rock/blues album in eight years, Mess of Blues, which is being released in
Europe on March 20, 2008 and in Canada and the U.S. on April 22. The album was
the result of a joint agreement between the German label, Ruf Records, and Stony
Plain, the independent Edmonton-based label that has released his three jazz
CDs.

Mess of Blues was recorded in studios in Toronto, with two cuts recorded at
the Jeff Healey’s Roadhouse in Toronto and two at a concert in London England.
The backup group on the upcoming CD - the Healey’s House Band - played with him
regularly at the downtown Roadhouse, and at a previous club bearing his name in
the Queen-Bathurst area.

Early last year, Healey underwent surgery to remove cancerous tissue from his
legs, and later from both lungs; aggressive radiation treatments and
chemotherapy, however, failed to halt the spread of the disease.

Despite his battle with cancer, he undertook frequent tours across Canada
with both his blues-based band and his jazz group; he was set for a major tour
in Germany and the U.K. and was to be a guest on the BBC’s famed Jools Holland
Show in April.

Remembered by his musicians - and his audiences - for his wry sense of humour
as well as his musical playfulness, Healey was a unique musician who bridged
different genres with ease and assurance.

The Best Of the Stony Plain Years: Vintage Jazz, Swing and Blues

Stony Plain Records has been releasing outstanding roots and blues music since
1976. This series dips into the vaults and helps celebrate some of the label’s
most acclaimed artists.Stony Plain was honoured to release Jeff Healey’s
(1966-2008) four vintage jazz/swing projects, plus a DVD with his beloved Jazz
Wizards.This music was his first love allowing him to play guitar and
trumpet in addition to having a career as one of the worlds most acclaimed and
innovative electric blues and rock musicians.

Reviews:

"This is one of the finest pieces of classic jazz and blues that I have ever heard. It has a timeless quality about it and could just as easily have been released in the 20s or 30s except for the recording quality which is exceptional"